Only kidding about the wall. But we have just sent this off to print on card as a "give-away" at Book Expo America. What an effort too - Alex did an amazing job of laying it all out. It has "blurb" and all that on one side, but the other just unfolds like a concertina screen and you get the whole picture at full-bleed. It's almost the size it will be in the book (not quite) so pretty large.

I never know if Hudson is kidding about all the spin-offs, but I really would like to do one of these as a poster sometime. It would make a wonderful panoramic postcard too. One day!

Have you got your printer under control Astra? It's never the easiest relationship! I like our printers a lot, but boy, do they need supervision?! We never quite know what they are going to do next.

Still, at least they are the main art printers in Czech Republic, so every time they make some mistake they de-ruffle me (me more than Alex I think) with a gift of some fabulous books. I am going to end up with badly frayed nerves but an amazing library ;-)

By the way, the little guy flying the dragonfly is going to metamorphosise into our Page of Swords we think. I like him, and think he will work well - but with some modification. We want to use the splendidly over-confident girl walking down the stairs too (you can't really see her at this size, I'll try to post a close-up). She is GREAT, but we are running out of cards and may not be able to use her. That's the kind of thing that happens this near to the end...

I don't think Hudson is kidding about spinoffs at all, and I think you should take a really solid look at them, because they might end up making more in the long term than the decks and books. Well, maybe. Although it's unlikely I'll get the deck, simply because it would most likely not get used to its potential, and I don't collect per se, I was quite serious about wanting a couple of prints if you do them.

A while ago I mentioned Zazzle.com as a place that did pretty good prints, and while I know that you prefer to keep quality control under your thumb, they offer a way that people can get prints on several different types of paper/canvas, with options for framing. (In the US, at least)

The thing is, when you post a graphic there, you're giving them a limited license to produce the prints and/or notecards, and any sales give you royalties. Less than you'd get selling direct, but it means you don't have the costs of inventory and shipping, and there's never any problem with "out of print", since the items are created one-off, and it needn't get in the way of other direct sales that you'd like to do.

My printers are sort of more or less - well, I talked to them yesterday, and was promised an email with a copy of the sign-off sheet that I could print out to send back with the last couple of things they emailed me, and I haven't seen it yet.

Just as well, though, because I'm trying to cope with my landlord deciding to sell the building I'm in, which means finding another place (I think I'm going to buy a condo this time so it CAN'T be sold out from under me), finding a realtor, getting mortgaqe approval, etc., etc.. A week ago I hadn't any notion of moving, and I'm still going a bit sideways.

No, I wasn't kidding about spinoffs! I've got a 2 year assoc. marketing degree (yeah, big whoop, that & 25 cents gets you a phone call) but it makes me watch how the big boys do it. Take a look at what Disney does every time they put a movie out, for instance. It's not JUST the movie, there's a kids tv series in the works, two made for video extra movies, the plush toys, the key chains, the coloring books, the paper dolls, the stickers, the fake tattoos, the cups, the backpacks, the candy bars.....

They all think 'extras' and actually that's where most of their money comes from, not the movie they put out. EVERYthing done by Disney gets produced in different media, from Halloween costumes down to decorated pencils!

You've got the deck. And a book, and postcards, and displays and the panorama, and....what else? Ever think about the Knight of Swords on a keychain? Those cutouts are a good idea. How about a pop-up book? It's CATS for goodness sakes, your market is worldwide! Not only the costumers, cat lovers, medieval enthusiests & little girls are going to want this, it appeals to a huge range of folks. Never doubt the power of a cat. Maybe you should be thinking what else you can look at to market the art you've done. Greeting cards in sets of 8 or 10? Notebooks? The sky's the limit.

Karen, HudsonGray is really on to something with the pop-up book idea. I really think this is something you should pursue. Do you guys have an agent? If not, you should start thinking about getting one, in the UK or NY.

On a lighter note, I was just running through your cards again, and the Knight of Swords still gives me a chuckle. I can almost hear him giving his battle cry.

Well, we are thinking about a few things. I've looked into Zazzle and CafePress but for us I don't think they are right on the whole. If we do other products we will probably do them ourselves - slower but it means we get to have control over certain aspects - if I saw a "Cats" image just slapped badly on to a teeshirt I think I'd take weeks to recover (never mind Alex's reaction). Perhaps (maybe) we may make some poster available at Zazzle as the reviews (and Astra) do say the print quality is good.

Apart from that, well oddly enough, some of the things being mentioned we have begun to look at. Though our poor printers throw up their hands in horror at some of our demands!

Maybe we'll come back to this discussion in a few weeks (or months, it could take months you know).
Meantime, well it looks like at least we will have some postcard packs (super size) available, so I may put those on the site. I don't know about the panorama. This early print of it is really for the distributors - but on the other hand the print quality is fabulous. I can't see that it would make sense to sell it though.

By the way, NOW maybe you see what all the copyright panic was about. Though I didn't want to say too much, some of the issue was about this guy (who in fact has worked for Disney) trying to get us in some way to assign royalties in products to him (without us realising that's what he was after). Scary stuff.

Karen - a minor note about products - if you post a print on Zazzle (or Cafe Press, for that matter, though their quality isn't quite as good), that's the only format the graphic can be printed in. To get a cat on a t-shirt, you have to specifically create an item under Apparel. The customer cannot grab an image from one item and plop it on another. Fortunately.

And although Zazzle makes noises about the buyer being able to customize products, whether they can do so on any given item is the artist's prerogative. I personally don't recommend allowing customization - too many idiots out there.

And a minor note - this isn't actually intended as a plug, but it may make a difference for people who are thinking of posting their graphics on Zazzle - they've now got a deal with Disney to let people produce items from a huge range of Disney characters - so somebody besides me has to figure it's a pretty good deal.

Yes, I really would. It is wonderful! And Karen, I did notice the little girl kitty waltzing down the stairs, she jumped right out at me, she really does have charisma. Maybe for the cover? And yes, the little guy with the dragonfly is so sweet, I just want to take him home with me. This panorama is delicious.

And Astra and HudsonGray are totally dead on about the money you can make with spin off products. It is a lot of work arranging the licenses, as mentioned, but there's real money there. Choices, choices. I applaud your decision to keep as much as possible in-house where the quality is guaranteed. Can't wait for the prints!